In this article we want to go through some techniques on how to check lazy behaviour on functions,

+

In this article we want to go through some techniques on how to check lazy behaviour on functions, examples of typical constructs which break laziness without need, and finally we want to link to techniques that may yield the same effect without laziness.

−

examples of typical constructs which break laziness without need,

+

−

and finally we want to link to techniques that may yield the same effect without laziness.

+

== Checking laziness ==

== Checking laziness ==

+

+

=== manual checks ===

If you want to check whether a function is lazy enough, you may feed it with undefined values.

If you want to check whether a function is lazy enough, you may feed it with undefined values.

Line 18:

Line 18:

filter even ([0..5] ++ undefined)

filter even ([0..5] ++ undefined)

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

If the <hask>filter</hask> function is lazy

+

If the <hask>filter</hask> function is lazy then it keeps generating elements in the first case and it outputs a prefix of the output list, before breaking because of the undefined, in the second case.

−

then it keeps generating elements in the first case

+

−

and it outputs a prefix of the output list, before breaking because of the undefined, in the second case.

Those tests usually do not fail by returning <hask>False</hask> but by leading to undefined results,

+

Those tests usually do not fail by returning <hask>False</hask> but by leading to undefined results, either explicit <hask>undefined</hask> or an infinite loop.

−

either explicit <hask>undefined</hask> or an infinite loop.

+

<haskell>

<haskell>

testFilter0 = filter even [0..100] `isPrefixOf` filter even [0..]

testFilter0 = filter even [0..100] `isPrefixOf` filter even [0..]

Line 30:

Line 27:

testFilter2 = let x = filter even [0..] !! 100 in x==x

testFilter2 = let x = filter even [0..] !! 100 in x==x

testFilter3 = let x = filter even ([0..102]++undefined) !! 50 in x==x

testFilter3 = let x = filter even ([0..102]++undefined) !! 50 in x==x

+

</haskell>

+

+

=== automated checks ===

+

+

If you are lazy when searching for laziness breakers, you may use the automated tool [http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/oc/StrictCheck/StrictCheck.hs StrictCheck].

+

+

<haskell>

+

*StrictCheck> test1 10 (unzip :: [(Int,Int)] -> ([Int],[Int]))

+

Function seems not to be least strict.

+

Input(s): _|_

+

Current output: _|_

+

Proposed output: (_|_, _|_)

+

Continue?

</haskell>

</haskell>

Line 41:

Line 51:

decodeUTF8 :: [Word8] -> Either Message String

decodeUTF8 :: [Word8] -> Either Message String

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

The <hask>Either</hask> type signals that the function marks decoding failure by using the <hask>Left</hask> constructor of <hask>Either</hask>.

+

The <hask>Either</hask> type signals that the function marks decoding-failure by using the <hask>Left</hask> constructor of <hask>Either</hask>.

−

This function cannot be lazy, because when you access the first character of the result,

+

This function cannot be lazy, because when you access the first character of the result, it must already be computed, whether the result is <hask>Left</hask> or <hask>Right</hask>.

−

it must already be computed, whether the result is <hask>Left</hask> or <hask>Right</hask>.

+

For this decision, the complete input must be decoded.

For this decision, the complete input must be decoded.

A better type signature is

A better type signature is

<haskell>

<haskell>

decodeUTF8 :: [Word8] -> (Maybe Message, String)

decodeUTF8 :: [Word8] -> (Maybe Message, String)

−

</haskell>

+

</haskell>

−

where the <hask>String</hask> contains as much characters as could be decoded

+

where the <hask>String</hask> contains as much characters as could be decoded and <hask>Maybe Message</hask> gives the reason for the stop of the decoding.

−

and <hask>Maybe Message</hask> gives the reason for the stop of the decoding.

+

<hask>Nothing</hask> means the input was completely read, <hask>Just msg</hask> means the decoding was aborted for the reason described in <hask>msg</hask>.

−

<hask>Nothing</hask> means the input was completely read,

+

−

<hask>Just msg</hask> means the decoding was aborted for the reason described in <hask>msg</hask>.

+

If you touch the first element of the pair, the complete decodings is triggered, thus laziness is broken.

If you touch the first element of the pair, the complete decodings is triggered, thus laziness is broken.

This means you should first process the <hask>String</hask> and look at <hask>Maybe Message</hask> afterwards.

This means you should first process the <hask>String</hask> and look at <hask>Maybe Message</hask> afterwards.

Instead of the unspecific pair type you should use the special type for asynchronous exceptions as found in the [http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/explicit-exception explicit exception] package.

Instead of the unspecific pair type you should use the special type for asynchronous exceptions as found in the [http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/explicit-exception explicit exception] package.

−

Especially in parsers you may find a function, called Wadler's force function.

Especially in parsers you may find a function, called Wadler's force function.

Line 66:

Line 72:

in Just x

in Just x

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

It looks like a complicated expression for <hask>y</hask>

+

It looks like a complicated expression for <hask>y</hask> with an added danger of failing unrecoverably when <hask>y</hask> is not <hask>Just</hask>.

−

with an added danger of failing unrecoverably when <hask>y</hask> is not <hask>Just</hask>.

+

Its purpose is to use the lazy pattern matching of <hask>let</hask> and to show to the runtime system, that we expect that <hask>y</hask> is always a <hask>Just</hask>.

−

Its purpose is to use the lazy pattern matching of <hask>let</hask>

+

Then the runtime system does not need to wait until it can determine the right constructor but it can proceed immediately.

−

and to show to the runtime system, that we expect that <hask>y</hask> is always a <hask>Just</hask>.

+

This way, a function can be made lazy, also if it returns <hask>Maybe</hask>.

−

Then the runtime system need not to wait until it can determine the right constructor but it can proceed immediately.

+

−

This way a function can be made lazy, also if it returns <hask>Maybe</hask>.

+

It can however fail, if later it turns out, that <hask>y</hask> is actually <hask>Nothing</hask>. <!-- fail how? To be lazy? Or it is some hideous failure like 'head []'? -->

It can however fail, if later it turns out, that <hask>y</hask> is actually <hask>Nothing</hask>. <!-- fail how? To be lazy? Or it is some hideous failure like 'head []'? -->

−

Using force like functions is sometimes necessary,

+

Using force-like functions is sometimes necessary, but should be avoided for data types with more than one constructor.

−

but should be avoided for data types with more than one constructor.

+

It is better to use an interim data type with one constructor and lift to the multi-constructor datatype when needed.

It is better to use an interim data type with one constructor and lift to the multi-constructor datatype when needed.

Consider parsers of type <hask>StateT [Word8] Maybe a</hask>.

Consider parsers of type <hask>StateT [Word8] Maybe a</hask>.

Line 97:

Line 100:

f (if b then x else y)

f (if b then x else y)

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

It is <hask>if undefined then f x else f y</hask> is <hask>undefined</hask>,

+

It is <hask>if undefined then f x else f y</hask> is <hask>undefined</hask>, whereas <hask>f (if b then x else y)</hask> is <hask>f undefined</hask>, which is a difference in [[non-strict semantics]].

Intuitively spoken, the bad thing about [[code duplication]] (stylistic questions put aside) is, that the run-time system cannot see that in the branches, some things are equal and do it in common before the critical decision.

−

that the run-time system cannot see that in the branches some things are equal and do it in common before the critical decision.

+

Actually, the compiler and run-time system could be "improved" to do so, but in order to keep things predictable, they do not do so.

Actually, the compiler and run-time system could be "improved" to do so, but in order to keep things predictable, they do not do so.

−

Even more, this behaviour is required by theory,

+

Even more, this behaviour is required by theory, since by pushing decisions to the inner of an expression you change the semantics of the expression.

−

since by pushing decisions to the inner of an expression you change the semantics of the expression.

+

So we return to the question, what the programmer actually wants.

So we return to the question, what the programmer actually wants.

Line 118:

Line 117:

is maximally lazy?

is maximally lazy?

It seems so, but actually it is not. In both branches we create non-empty lists, but the run-time system cannot see this.

It seems so, but actually it is not. In both branches we create non-empty lists, but the run-time system cannot see this.

−

It is <hask>null (if undefined then [x] else y:ys)</hask> again <hask>undefined</hask>,

+

It is <hask>null (if undefined then [x] else y:ys)</hask> again <hask>undefined</hask>, but we like to have it evaluated to <hask>False</hask>.

−

but we like to have it evaluated to <hask>False</hask>.

+

Here we need lazy pattern matching as provided by <hask>let</hask>.

Here we need lazy pattern matching as provided by <hask>let</hask>.

<haskell>

<haskell>

Line 143:

Line 141:

uncurry (:) (if b then (x,[]) else (y,ys))

uncurry (:) (if b then (x,[]) else (y,ys))

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

Another example is the <hask>inits</hask> function.

Another example is the <hask>inits</hask> function.

Line 153:

Line 150:

</haskell>

</haskell>

is suggested.

is suggested.

−

However you find that <hask>inits undefined</hask> is undefined,

+

However you find that <hask>inits undefined</hask> is undefined, although <hask>inits</hask> always should return the empty list as first element.

−

although <hask>inits</hask> always should return the empty list as first element.

+

The following implementation does exactly this:

The following implementation does exactly this:

<haskell>

<haskell>

Line 170:

Line 166:

I do not know whether the following example can be simplified.

I do not know whether the following example can be simplified.

−

In this form it occured in a real application, namely the HTTP package.

+

In this form it occurred in a real application, namely the HTTP package.

Consider the following action of the <hask>Control.Monad.RWS</hask> which fetches a certain number of elements from a list.

Consider the following action of the <hask>Control.Monad.RWS</hask> which fetches a certain number of elements from a list.

Line 176:

Line 172:

The reader part provides an element which means that the input is consumed.

The reader part provides an element which means that the input is consumed.

It is returned as singleton when the caller tries to read from a completely read input.

It is returned as singleton when the caller tries to read from a completely read input.

−

The writer allows to log some information, however the considered action does not output something to the log.

+

The writer allows to log some information, however the considered action does not output anything to the log.

<haskell>

<haskell>

getN :: Int -> RWS a [Int] [a] [a]

getN :: Int -> RWS a [Int] [a] [a]

Line 186:

Line 182:

in put rest >> return fetched

in put rest >> return fetched

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

As we learned as good imperative programmers, we only call <hask>splitAt</hask> when the input is non-empty,

+

As we learned as good imperative programmers, we only call <hask>splitAt</hask> when the input is non-empty, that is, only if there is something to fetch.

−

that is, only if there is something to fetch.

+

This works in even more many corner cases, but not in the following one.

−

This works even more many corner cases, but not in the following one.

+

Although <hask>getN</hask> does obviously not log something (i.e. it does not call <hask>tell</hask>), it requires to read the input in order to find out, that nothing was logged:

−

Although <hask>getN</hask> does obviously not log something (i.e. it does not call <hask>tell</hask>),

+

−

it requires to read the input in order to find out, that nothing was logged:

+

<haskell>

<haskell>

*Test> (\(_a,_s,w) -> w) $ runRWS (getN 5) '\n' undefined

*Test> (\(_a,_s,w) -> w) $ runRWS (getN 5) '\n' undefined

Line 196:

Line 190:

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

The problem is again, that <hask>if</hask> checks the emptiness of the input,

+

The problem is again, that <hask>if</hask> checks the emptiness of the input, which is undefined, since the input is undefined.

−

which is undefined, since the input is undefined.

+

Thus we must ensure, that the invoked monadic actions are run independent from the input.

Thus we must ensure, that the invoked monadic actions are run independent from the input.

Only this way, the run-time system can see that the logging stream is never touched.

Only this way, the run-time system can see that the logging stream is never touched.

Line 240:

Line 233:

Consider the <hask>partition</hask> function which sorts elements, that match a predicate, into one list and the non-matching elements into another list.

Consider the <hask>partition</hask> function which sorts elements, that match a predicate, into one list and the non-matching elements into another list.

−

This function should also work on infinite lists,

+

This function should also work on infinite lists, but the implementation shipped with GHC up to 6.2 [http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/libraries/2004-October/002645.html failed on infinite lists].

−

but the implementation shipped with GHC up to 6.2 [http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/libraries/2004-October/002645.html failed on infinite lists].

We see that the whether <hask>a</hask> is prepended to the first or the second list,

+

We see that the whether <hask>a</hask> is prepended to the first or the second list, does only depend on <hask>p a</hask>, and neither on <hask>y</hask> nor on <hask>z</hask>.

−

does only depend on <hask>p a</hask>, and neither on <hask>y</hask> nor on <hask>z</hask>.

+

The laziness annotation <hask>~</hask> is crucial, since it tells, intuitively spoken,

The laziness annotation <hask>~</hask> is crucial, since it tells, intuitively spoken,

that we can rely on the recursive call of <hask>foldr</hask> to return a pair and not <hask>undefined</hask>.

that we can rely on the recursive call of <hask>foldr</hask> to return a pair and not <hask>undefined</hask>.

Line 278:

Line 269:

This fails for infinite lists and is inefficient for finite lists, and that was the bug in former implementations of <hask>partition</hask>.

This fails for infinite lists and is inefficient for finite lists, and that was the bug in former implementations of <hask>partition</hask>.

Btw. by the expansion you also see, that it would not help to omit the tilde and apply the above 'force' trick to the 'if-then-else' expression.

Btw. by the expansion you also see, that it would not help to omit the tilde and apply the above 'force' trick to the 'if-then-else' expression.

+

+

However, there still remains a small laziness break:

+

There is an unnecessary decision between the pair constructor of the initial accumulator value <hask>([],[])</hask> and the pair constructors within the <hask>if</hask>.

+

This can only be avoided by applying a <hask>force</hask> function to the result of <hask>foldr</hask>:

+

<haskell>

+

partition :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> ([a], [a])

+

partition p =

+

(\ ~(ys,zs) -> (ys,zs)) .

+

foldr

+

(\x ~(y,z) ->

+

if p x

+

then (x : y, z)

+

else (y, x : z))

+

([],[])

+

</haskell>

+

=== List reversal ===

=== List reversal ===

−

Any use of the list function <hask>reverse</hask> should alert you,

+

Any use of the list function <hask>reverse</hask> should alert you, since when you access the first element of a reversed list, then all nodes of the input list must be evaluated and stored in memory.

−

since when you access the first element of a reversed list, then all nodes of the input list must be evaluated and stored in memory.

+

Think twice whether it is really needed.

Think twice whether it is really needed.

−

The article [[Infinity and efficiency]] shows how to avoid list reversal.

+

The articles on [[Infinity and efficiency]] and [[List traversal]]

+

show how to avoid list reversal.

== Input and Output ==

== Input and Output ==

−

In general functions output of lazily generated data is no problem,

+

In general functions, output of lazily generated data is no problem,

whereas lazily reading data requires a sort of a hack and thus caution.

whereas lazily reading data requires a sort of a hack and thus caution.

Consider the nice program

Consider the nice program

Line 294:

Line 301:

readFile "source" >>= writeFile "target"

readFile "source" >>= writeFile "target"

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

which copies the file <code>source</code> to the file <code>target</code> with constant memory consumption,

+

which copies the file <code>source</code> to the file <code>target</code> with constant memory consumption, since <hask>readFile</hask> reads the data lazily and <hask>writeFile</hask> writes it as it comes in.

−

since <hask>readFile</hask> reads the data lazily and <hask>writeFile</hask> writes it as it comes in.

+

However it fails badly, when a file shall be updated in-place:

−

However it fails badly, when a file shall updated in-place:

+

<haskell>

<haskell>

readFile "text" >>= writeFile "text" . map toUpper

readFile "text" >>= writeFile "text" . map toUpper

</haskell>

</haskell>

−

This would work only when <hask>readFile</hask> would be strict,

+

This would work only when <hask>readFile</hask> would be strict, that is it would read the file contents to memory before returning.

−

that is it would read the file contents to memory before returning.

+

The function <hask>readFile</hask> needs certain hacks:

The function <hask>readFile</hask> needs certain hacks:

−

* The function <hask>unsafeInterleaveIO</hask> is needed for defering the calls to <hask>hGetChar</hask> until the characters are actually needed.

+

* The function <hask>unsafeInterleaveIO</hask> is needed for deferring the calls to <hask>hGetChar</hask> until the characters are actually needed.

−

* Exceptions that occur while reading the file are raised in the code that writes the result of processing the file content to somewhere. I.e. the exceptions produced by <hask>readFile</hask> can occur in code that has nothing to do with file reading and there is no warning, that they might occur there.

+

* Exceptions, that occur while reading the file, are raised in the code that writes the result of processing the file content to somewhere. I.e. the exceptions produced by <hask>readFile</hask> can occur in code that has nothing to do with file reading and there is no warning, that they might occur there. Again, I want to advertise the [http://hackage.haskell.org/cgi-bin/hackage-scripts/package/explicit-exception explicit exception] package, which helps making the reason for the stop of the file read explicit. Exceptions must still be handled in code, that does not read the file, but the fact that they are explicit helps you to not forget it.

−

* The file must be closed after it is no longer needed. The documentation says, that the file is put into a semi-closed state. Maybe this means, it uses Weak Reference which lets the [[garbage collector]] close the file, once no reference to data of the file exists anymore. However, the garbage collector never works immediately, but in phases. It may be that the file remains open for a long time, maybe until the program exits.

+

* The file must be closed after it is no longer needed. The documentation says, that the file is put into a semi-closed state. Maybe this means, it uses Weak Reference which lets the [[garbage collector]] close the file, once no reference to data of the file exists anymore. However, the garbage collector never works immediately, but in phases. It may be that the file remains open for a long time, maybe until the program exits. The <hask>Data.ByteString.Lazy.readFile</hask> function explicitly closes the file after the last byte is read. The advantage is, that the file is closed immediately. The disadvantage is, that the file is not closed at all, when not all bytes are read. E.g. if a parser encounters a parse error, it has to read the rest of the file anyway, in order to get it closed.

How can you implement a function like <hask>hGetContents</hask> by yourselves?

+

You need to call <hask>hGetChar</hask> in a lazy way.

+

This is achieved by <hask>unsafeInterleaveIO</hask>.

+

However, calling <hask>unsafeInterleaveIO hGetChar</hask> many times would not work,

+

because the order must be preserved.

+

E.g. in <haskell>hGetContents h >>= putStrLn . drop 10</haskell>, the first ten characters from the file are not needed,

+

but <hask>hGetChar</hask> must be called for the first 10 characters anyway in order to increment the file position.

+

This is achieved by not calling <hask>unsafeInterleaveIO</hask> on <hask>hGetChar</hask> but on the list constructor.

+

The implementation of <hask>hGetContents</hask> looks roughly like

+

<haskell>

+

hGetContents h =

+

let go = unsafeInterleaveIO $ liftM2 (:) (hGetChar h) go

+

in go

+

</haskell>

+

.

+

In contrast to the standard <hask>hGetContents</hask>, this implementation does not close the file

+

(by the way, it does even not handle the end of the file), but the advantage of not relying on some automatism to close the file somewhen is, that you can close the file immediately after you stopped processing its content.

+

The disadvantage is that you must not forget to close the file and must do it only once.

−

+

So far we have only considered lazy read.

−

<hask>readFile</hask>

+

It might also be necessary to trigger write actions when fetching data.

−

<hask>ByteString.Lazy.readFile</hask>

+

Consider a server-client interaction, where data can only be read, when a request was sent before.

−

<hask>withFile</hask>

+

It would be nice if the request is triggered by reading the result from the server.

−

<hask>hGetContents</hask>

+

Such interactions can be programmed using the {{HackagePackage|id=lazyio}} package.

Latest revision as of 12:03, 21 October 2012

One of Haskell's main features is non-strict semantics, which is implemented by lazy evaluation in all popular Haskell compilers.
However many Haskell libraries found on Hackage are implemented as if Haskell were a strict language.
This leads to unnecessary inefficiencies, memory leaks and, we suspect, unintended semantics.
In this article we want to go through some techniques on how to check lazy behaviour on functions, examples of typical constructs which break laziness without need, and finally we want to link to techniques that may yield the same effect without laziness.

.
This function cannot be lazy, because when you access the first character of the result, it must already be computed, whether the result is

Left

or

Right

.

For this decision, the complete input must be decoded.
A better type signature is

decodeUTF8 ::[Word8]->(Maybe Message,String)

where the

String

contains as much characters as could be decoded and

Maybe Message

gives the reason for the stop of the decoding.

Nothing

means the input was completely read,

Just msg

means the decoding was aborted for the reason described in

msg

.

If you touch the first element of the pair, the complete decodings is triggered, thus laziness is broken.

This means you should first process the

String

and look at

Maybe Message

afterwards.

Instead of the unspecific pair type you should use the special type for asynchronous exceptions as found in the explicit exception package.

Especially in parsers you may find a function, called Wadler's force function.
It works as follows:

force y =let Just x = y
in Just x

It looks like a complicated expression for

y

with an added danger of failing unrecoverably when

y

is not

Just

.
Its purpose is to use the lazy pattern matching of

let

and to show to the runtime system, that we expect that

y

is always a

Just

.

Then the runtime system does not need to wait until it can determine the right constructor but it can proceed immediately.

This way, a function can be made lazy, also if it returns

Maybe

.
It can however fail, if later it turns out, that

y

is actually

Nothing

.

Using force-like functions is sometimes necessary, but should be avoided for data types with more than one constructor.
It is better to use an interim data type with one constructor and lift to the multi-constructor datatype when needed.

Consider parsers of type

StateT [Word8]Maybe a

.
Now consider the parser combinator

many :: StateT [Word8]Maybe a -> StateT [Word8]Maybe[a]

which parses as many elements of type

a

as possible.
It shall be lazy and thus must be infallible and must not use the

It is common source of too much strictness to make decisions too early and thus duplicate code in the decision branches.
Intuitively spoken, the bad thing about code duplication (stylistic questions put aside) is, that the run-time system cannot see that in the branches, some things are equal and do it in common before the critical decision.
Actually, the compiler and run-time system could be "improved" to do so, but in order to keep things predictable, they do not do so.
Even more, this behaviour is required by theory, since by pushing decisions to the inner of an expression you change the semantics of the expression.
So we return to the question, what the programmer actually wants.

Now, do you think this expression

if b
then[x]else y:ys

is maximally lazy?
It seems so, but actually it is not. In both branches we create non-empty lists, but the run-time system cannot see this.

It is

null(ifundefinedthen[x]else y:ys)

again

undefined

, but we like to have it evaluated to

False

.
Here we need lazy pattern matching as provided by

let

.

let z:zs =if b
then[x]else y:ys
in z:zs

This expression always returns the constructor

(:)

and thus

null

knows that the list is not empty.
However, this is a little bit unsafe, because the

let z:zs

may fail if in the branches of

if

there is an empty list.

This error can only caught at run-time which is bad.
We can avoid it using the single constructor pair type.

I do not know whether the following example can be simplified.
In this form it occurred in a real application, namely the HTTP package.

Consider the following action of the

Control.Monad.RWS

which fetches a certain number of elements from a list.

The state of the monad is the input list we fetch the elements from.
The reader part provides an element which means that the input is consumed.
It is returned as singleton when the caller tries to read from a completely read input.
The writer allows to log some information, however the considered action does not output anything to the log.

We learn from this example, that sometimes in Haskell it is more efficient to call functions that are not needed under some circumstances.
Always remind, that the do notation looks only imperative, but it is not imperative.

E.g.,

endOfInput

is only evaluated if the end of the input is really reached.
Thus, the call

In general functions, output of lazily generated data is no problem,
whereas lazily reading data requires a sort of a hack and thus caution.
Consider the nice program

readFile"source">>=writeFile"target"

which copies the file source to the file target with constant memory consumption, since

readFile

reads the data lazily and

writeFile

writes it as it comes in.

However it fails badly, when a file shall be updated in-place:

readFile"text">>=writeFile"text".map toUpper

This would work only when

readFile

would be strict, that is it would read the file contents to memory before returning.
The function

readFile

needs certain hacks:

The function

unsafeInterleaveIO

is needed for deferring the calls to

hGetChar

until the characters are actually needed.

Exceptions, that occur while reading the file, are raised in the code that writes the result of processing the file content to somewhere. I.e. the exceptions produced by

readFile

can occur in code that has nothing to do with file reading and there is no warning, that they might occur there. Again, I want to advertise the explicit exception package, which helps making the reason for the stop of the file read explicit. Exceptions must still be handled in code, that does not read the file, but the fact that they are explicit helps you to not forget it.

The file must be closed after it is no longer needed. The documentation says, that the file is put into a semi-closed state. Maybe this means, it uses Weak Reference which lets the garbage collector close the file, once no reference to data of the file exists anymore. However, the garbage collector never works immediately, but in phases. It may be that the file remains open for a long time, maybe until the program exits. The

Data.ByteString.Lazy.readFile

function explicitly closes the file after the last byte is read. The advantage is, that the file is closed immediately. The disadvantage is, that the file is not closed at all, when not all bytes are read. E.g. if a parser encounters a parse error, it has to read the rest of the file anyway, in order to get it closed.

A function that handles the closing of the file for you is

System.IO.withFile

.

You can use it like

withFile "source" ReadMode $ \h ->
hGetLine h >>=putStrLn

After the actions inside the

withFile

call, the file is closed.

However this is dangerous:

If you leak lazily read contents from the file out of

withFile

, the file is closed before the data is actually read.
Thus, although

withFile "source" ReadMode hGetContents

looks like

readFile

,

it is very different: I does not work.

How can you implement a function like

hGetContents

by yourselves?
You need to call

hGetChar

in a lazy way.
This is achieved by

unsafeInterleaveIO

.
However, calling

unsafeInterleaveIO hGetChar

many times would not work,

because the order must be preserved.

E.g. in

hGetContents h >>=putStrLn.drop10

, the first ten characters from the file are not needed,
but

hGetChar

must be called for the first 10 characters anyway in order to increment the file position.
This is achieved by not calling

(by the way, it does even not handle the end of the file), but the advantage of not relying on some automatism to close the file somewhen is, that you can close the file immediately after you stopped processing its content.
The disadvantage is that you must not forget to close the file and must do it only once.

So far we have only considered lazy read.
It might also be necessary to trigger write actions when fetching data.
Consider a server-client interaction, where data can only be read, when a request was sent before.
It would be nice if the request is triggered by reading the result from the server.
Such interactions can be programmed using the lazyio package.

From the above issues, you see that laziness is a fragile thing.
Make one mistake and a function, carefully developed with laziness in mind, is no longer lazy.
The type system will rarely help you hunting laziness breakers, and there is little support by debuggers.

Thus, detecting laziness breakers often requires understanding a large portion of code, which is against the idea of modularity.

Maybe for your case you will prefer a different idiom, that achieves the same goals in a safer way. See e.g. the Enumerator and iteratee pattern.